Maybe Meisters Aren't All Bad
by RighterWriter
Summary: Eruka has a chat with Doctor Stein


He was at it again. He'd wedged himself into one of the many crevasses in Medusa's lab and now sat with his arms around his knees, rocking and muttering. She couldn't hear from this distance, but she didn't have to—it was always the same. Something about being where he was supposed to be. Sometimes he would just leap to his feet with a screech, frightened by one of his dark visions of madness. She didn't like meisters—feared them, as any witch did—but seeing him like this wrenched her heart in two. Sure, she was a witch, but she wasn't heartless.

She carefully made her way into the corner he'd sequestered himself in and sat down beside him, just out of arm's reach of him. In this state, who knew what he would do?

"Stein?" she said softly, searching his eyes for any hint that he had heard her. There was none. Talking to him while he was like this was like talking to an animal—she could say anything she liked, but he wouldn't understand a single word. She liked to think it helped him just to hear a human voice; that it grounded him somehow. But really, the only person it was helping was her. She sighed. "I hate this. Don't you? Being a pawn?" He looked up at her voice, then turned away. "I don't know if you know this, but I tried to kill her." She laughed bitterly. "I actually thought I could. Mizune and I…" A regretful sigh at the memory of the eldest Mizune sister. She still blamed herself for her death. "We… We came up with a plan. We went to Death City to meet her as she left the DWMA, when she was working there as the school nurse." She felt stupid telling him all this, but he probably wouldn't even remember it in a few minutes. "We tried. We did… but then… she killed Mizune. We didn't know…" A tear surprised her as it fell to her cheek. "We didn't know… I should have known. She had put hundreds of snakes into our bodies. That's why I do it, you know. If I thought I had even one chance against her, I'd fight back. And this time, I'd win."

Stein had stopped rocking himself, but he was still muttering. Nothing coherent, just babble. She sighed. He hadn't heard a word she'd said, but at least she felt better for talking about it. She wiped her eye. "I know, I'm stupid. I should have killed her then; who cares if I die?"

Wait. It had stopped. She looked over at Stein, who was staring straight at her. He had stopped muttering. "S…Stein?" She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a very, very bad thing. But he just looked at her.

"I… I was there. After you left, I was there. In that street."

"Huh?"

"I would care."

"Stein, what…? Oh." Eruka blushed at this admission. Stein looked away again, and with a moan of agony, he laid his head against the wall behind him. "A-are you okay?"

"It won't stop," he whimpered, clutching his head.

"Steeein?" came Medusa's familiar, drawling voice. Eruka jumped to her feet. "Stein, you silly man, where are you?" She rounded the corner and stopped when she saw Eruka, a fake look of shock on her face. "Why, Eruka! I didn't expect to find _you_ here!" she said with a small smile, but Eruka knew she'd heard the entire exchange. "Oh! There you are, Stein." She walked around Eruka and sat in Stein's lap, cradling her head on his shoulder. He resumed rocking himself and babbling. "Eruka, don't you have something you should be doing?"

"N-not at the moment, Lady Medusa," she stammered. She hated that name, hated having to call her that. _Lady_ Medusa. Last time she checked, ladies didn't infest your body with snakes and threaten to kill you if you didn't do their bidding. Although, to Medusa's credit, Eruka hadn't met any true ladies except in storybooks…

"I really think you do," said Medusa, and Eruka stiffened.

"Oh! Right away, Lady Medusa," she said, and scurried away.

Stein's laughter echoed through the building as she left, resounding off every wall and crevasse. It crescendoed into a howl of agony, and she knew she'd lost him once again. Medusa hadn't even needed to lay a hand on him to produce a scream like that—his madness was tearing him apart.

But still, that one hint of sanity amid his mad mutterings made her stop and look over her shoulder. She could barely see where the two of them were sitting, but from this vantage point, she couldn't see any details—only his white lab coat and her bare feet. Had he really meant what he'd said? That he would care if she died? Probably not, but still it made her blush.

Maybe meisters weren't all bad.


End file.
